Wire-stretcher.



tures of the present invention.

UNITED STATES Patented April 11, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

' LAFAYETTE BAYS, OF ARBALA, TEXAS.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of 'Letters' PatentNo. 786,945, dated'April11, 1905. Application filed March 31, 1904- Serial No. 200,998.

To a whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAFAYETTE BAYS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Arbala,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-stretchers,

and has for its object to provide. a simple and improved device of thischaracter capable of being conveniently applied to a fence-post forstretching a wire and arranged to hold the wire in its stretchedcondition while being fastened to the adjacent post.

It is furthermore designed to facilitate the engagement of a wire withthe stretcher and to effectually obviate slipping'of the wire upon thedevice and also to provide for the convenient release of the wire afterit has been fastened to the post.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts, as willbe hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularlypointed out inlthe appended claims, it being understood that changes inthe form, proportions, Size, and minor details may be made within thescope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing anyof the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wire-stretcherembodying the fea- Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the presentstretcher applied to a post and locked to hold a wire while beingfastened to the post. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the links of thechain carried by the stretcher.

Like characters of reference designate cor.- responding parts in eachand every figure of the drawings.

The device of the present invention comprises a bar 1, preferably ofwood and designed-to be used as a lever. Carried intermed-iately uponthe top of the bar is a wireclamp made up of a stationary member 2,having a shank 3 fixed to the bar by means of suitable fastenings 4, anda jaw 5, carried at the rear of the shank and inclined transverselyacross the bar, with its outer and rear end provided with a taperednotch or bifurcation 6, forming a forked terminal for the jaw. In rearof the fixed member is a movable mem ber 7, which consists of acomparatively-long shank 8, which is intermediately pivoted to liquelyacross the bar and the movable jaw is disposed substantially paralleltherewith when clamped thereagainst, the forked end of the movable jawbeing at one edge of the bar and the forked end of the fixed jaw beingat the opposite end thereof.

At the forward end of the lever is a wireengaging flexible connection 12in the nature of a chain, which is secured to the under side of the barthrough the medium of an eyebolt 13. This chain is made up ofpeculiarlyformed links, one of which has been shown in detail in Fig.8of the drawings. Each link consists-of a bar 14, having one end formedinto an eye 15 and its opposite end formed into a hook 16, theintermediate portion of the bar being provided with an eye or loop 17When a plurality of such links are assembled to form a chain, theterminal eye ofone link is engaged with the intermediate eye of the nextlink in rear thereof, whereby the terminal hook of each link is free andcapable of being engaged with a wire.

In using the device as shown in Fig. 2 of .the drawings the forward endof the lever is placed across and in contact with a fence-post 18, withthe post located between the wireclamp and the forward end of the lever.One of the runner-wires 19 is then placed between the jaws of thewire-clamp, so as to engage the notches or forks thereof, after whichthe rear end of the lever is swung in the direction of the arrow, so asto place the desired tension upon the wire and stretch the same up tothe adjacent post. When the wire has been stretched to the desireddegree, the terminal hook of one of the links of the chain is engagedwith the wire at a point in rear of the post, thereby looking orsupporting the lever, so as to hold the wire in its stretched conditionwhile it is being fastened to the adjacent post. After the wire has beensecured to the post the movable jaw is swung away from the fixed jaw, soas to release the wire from the clamp, whereby the lever may bedisengaged from the wire and moved to loosen the chain in order that thelatter may also be disengaged from the wire, whereby the stretcher maybe conveniently disengaged from the post and the Wire and thentransferred to the next post.

While the device has been illustrated in connection with a barbed wire,it is just as applicable to a wire without barbs, as an unbarbed wirewill not slip through the forks of the wire-clamp, and as the chain isset at an angle to the wire the hook engaged with the latter cannot slipthereon. V In addition to gripping the wire the forks also preventlateral displacement of the wirefrom the clamp.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present inventionprovides an exceedingly simple and useful form of wirestretcher, theparts of which are located for convenient manipulation in applying andremoving the stretcher, and no particular degree of skill is requiredfor the eflective manipulation of the device.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a

wire-clamp carried intermediately upon the lever, and a wire-engagingchain carried by the forward end of the lever and made up of linkshaving hooks for individual engagement with a wire.

2. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carriedintermediately by the lever, and a flexible element loosely connected tothe lever and provided with a series of wireengaging devices.

3. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carriedintermediately by the lever, and a chain loosely connected to the lever,the outer end of each link of the chain terminating in a hook with therear end of the link loosely connected to an intermediate portion of thenext in rear link.

A. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carriedintermediatcly by the lever, and a chain loosely connected to the lever,each link of the chain consisting of a bar having a terminal eye, aterminal hook at the opposite end of the bar, and an eye locatedintermediate of the ends of the bar, the terminal eye of each link beingengaged with the intermediate eye of the next adjacent rear link.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LAFAYETTE BAYS.

Witnesses:

THos. P. HAIL, W. B. THoMAs.

